Thursday, July 28, 2005

"A Momentous and Historic Development"

Today's statement by the IRA brings the curtain down on over 35 years of violence and gives the real chance that peace is for real this time and not just another false dawn for Ireland. It seems that as one terrorist group wraps up operations and a new, far more worrying one, emerges. Today's pictures from last night's ABC news were horrible and, I think it's only now that I can really say that I genuinely feel scared. The nail bomb image really brought what it is we're facing home to me. While the IRA's attacks through their 35 year campaign may have been dispicable, in most cases they aimed more at creating visual impact than inflicting huge casualties (hence, the warnings, the attacks at night on docklands etc.) What we face now is very different, and far more threatening. With terrorism, it seems that "out with the old, in with the new" rings all too true today.